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Alone and Broke, Hamas Struggles to Rule

Palestinians besieged a World Food Program office in Gaza on Wednesday, looking for handouts of aid.Credit
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

GAZA CITY, April 6 — Barely a week in office, the Palestinian prime minister from Hamas faces not only diplomatic isolation and a bankrupt treasury but also an intense rivalry with Fatah, the longtime Palestinian power, over control of the heavily armed security agencies.

In an interview at his office here on Thursday, the prime minister, Ismail Haniya, said he hoped the Arab League would come through with $50 million a month for his government. He also complained about efforts by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president from Fatah, to compete for control of crucial agencies.

"There are attempts to create parallel frameworks to some ministries in the Palestinian government," Mr. Haniya told The Associated Press in a later interview, adding that he did not think Mr. Abbas could "continue this pressure and diminish some of the authorities of this government."

One of the first acts of the Hamas cabinet, which met on Wednesday using a videophone connection, with 10 ministers here in Gaza and 14 in Ramallah, in the West Bank, was to freeze a round of appointments by the departing Fatah-led administration.

Mr. Haniya's main appointment was that of Said Siam to head the Interior Ministry, a position that includes control of the Palestinian police force and Preventive Security Service. But in the latest example of the jockeying for power, Mr. Abbas has chosen a longtime ally, Rashid Abu Shbak, to head three security agencies, including the Preventive Security Service. In Gaza, the agency is a power base for Muhammad Dahlan, a major Fatah figure and a former head of the agency here.

Mr. Siam, the Hamas appointee, said he would not use the Preventive Security Service to imprison anti-Israeli activists. "We will not put our sons in prison for political membership or resisting occupation, because occupation is the reason for the problem," he said.

While Hamas, which won a sweeping victory in January's election, can appoint cabinet ministers, the Palestinian Authority and particularly the security services were a vast patronage machine for Fatah, and its bureaucracy is now largely staffed by Fatah loyalists.

Mr. Abbas also ordered that all diplomatic statements and dealings be coordinated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, the signer of the Oslo Accords. Fatah is the dominant faction in that group.

The rivalry over who would run the armed security forces surfaced last week in a shootout in which three Palestinians were killed.

Last Friday, a car bomb killed Abu Youssef al-Quqa, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committee who was affiliated with Hamas. It is unclear who carried out the bombing. Israel said it played no part in it.

Photo

Ismail Haniya, the new prime minister, faces Fatah opposition.Credit
George Azar for The New York Times

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committee accused Mr. Dahlan of involvement. Later, at a funeral, marchers shouted, "Dahlan is a collaborator." Gunmen from the Preventive Security Service arrived and killed three people and wounded 35 others before calm was restored.

With its history of violence and its vow to destroy Israel, Hamas has been listed as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Israel refuses to allow Hamas officials to pass between the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to other steps aimed at its isolation.

On Thursday, Khaled Abu Arafa, the new minister for Jerusalem affairs, was arrested as he left Jerusalem for the West Bank. The Israeli police said he was on a list of people barred from entering the West Bank for security reasons. He was held for several hours before being released.

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Asked about the incident, Mr. Haniya said: "This is totally rejected. He is part of a government elected by its people."

The most immediate problem Mr. Haniya faces, however, concerns finances.

Last month's salaries for 140,000 Palestinian Authority employees — supporting about a third of the population — have not yet been paid. It is unclear how those payments, or April's payroll, will be met.

The Palestinians need at least $150 million a month to cover salaries and operations, according to the Hamas-appointed finance minister, Omar Abdel-Razeq.

Most of the Palestinian money has dried up. Israel stopped turning over about $50 million a month in taxes and customs revenue it collected on behalf of the Palestinians under previous agreements. The Palestinians collect around $35 million in taxes in their areas, Mr. Razeq said.

Other foreign donors, particularly the Europeans, had been contributing the remainder of the money.

U.S. Redirects Aid to Palestinians

By The New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 6 — The United States, which has cut off all aid to the Palestinian Authority for day-to-day operations and reconstruction projects, is preparing to redirect some of that money to become part of a package of nearly $300 million for relief services and civil society in Palestinian areas, senior State Department officials said Thursday.

A State Department official said that about $245 million would go for food, health, education and other similar programs administered by the United Nations and other independent organizations.

Another official said the exact components of the aid package would not be decided until Congress was consulted. "Ideally what will come out of this is more pressure on the Hamas government and less pressure on the Palestinian people," he said. He spoke anonymously because the information was not yet public.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Alone and Broke, Hamas Struggles to Rule. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe